The GAA seem determined to press ahead with the 2020 senior intercounty football and hurling championships, according to reports this afternoon.
A conference call took place today from Croke Park involving some senior stakeholders in the GAA and the heads of various county boards. According to a report from RTE's Damian Lawlor, the GAA have not ruled out relaunching the 2020 intercounty Championship in some form this autumn.
If intercounty GAA does return this year, it will most likely happen behind closed doors.
While nothing was formally decided during today's conference call, it was notable that the GAA opted not to cancel the 2020 Championship today. According to reports on Morning Ireland this morning, cancellation was an option that was being considered. Many of questioned the purpose of a 'behind-closed-doors' Championship and there were calls yesterday for the GAA to call the whole thing off.
Lawlor quotes an anonymous HQ source as saying:
"There was a lot of speculation regarding the inter-county championships being cancelled this year but not much is changing for the foreseeable future," a source said.
"There is a long way to go before any games might be played but the target is to have championships this year."
Taoiseach Leo Varakdar told the Late Late Show on Friday that there can be an All-Ireland this year, but it would have to take place without spectators.
GAA activity can only resume during Phase 4 of Ireland's lockdown easing scheme, which will not come into effect before July 20.
UPDATE: this evening the GAA has released a statement on its website providing more clarity on their viewpoint regarding this year's Championship.
If it goes ahead, they do not envision the 2020 Championship starting before October. They have called for intercounty teams to stand down training. They've also noted that there is little appetite for spectator-less intercounty games.
The GAA still firmly hopes to be able to play county and club competitions this year, subject of course to public health guidance. We can confirm however that no inter-county games are expected to take place before October.
Counties are asked, in the interest of players, to suspend all inter-county training until further notice. There will be a phased resumption of training at both club and county level to allow players to prepare appropriately for playing games.
While not categorically ruling out the possible staging of games behind closed doors later in the year, there appears to be a lack of appetite for this type of fixture-scheduling at the current time across the wider Association.
